What Is Forest Bathing?
Forest bathing, a translation of the Japanese practice of “Shinrin-Yoku”, is the practice of immersing our senses in nature. A growing body of scientific knowledge demonstrates the benefits of spending time in nature because of its holistic therapeutic effects on our mind, body and spirit, helping us manage stress and increase our overall well-being. It is therefore referred to in many parts of the world as Forest Therapy.
NPR story about Forest Bathing
PBS story – watch a guided walk
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy – Scientific Benefits of Forest Bathing
What To Expect
In a guided Forest Bathing experience, you will be led by a trained guide through a series of connective invitations that slows you down, awakens your senses, and supports you in building a deep, healing connection with nature.
Often what flows during a Forest Bathing walk is improvised in the moment by the guide working in partnership with what nature offers, and adapted to meet the needs of the participants. While everyone’s experience is different, participants often share that they experience a kind of communion with nature and other people in the group in a way that they have never experienced before.
Forest Bathing is not just a hike or a walk in the park. Each Forest Bathing Experience is thoughtfully designed by your guide following a standard sequence that has been adopted by thousands of guides across the world, proven to support you to establish an embodied relationship with the present moment and the land.
The experience is gentle and accessible to almost anyone at any fitness level.
The person who leads forest therapy walks is a guide. It is essential to understand how the role of a guide is different than the role of a therapist. Steph's training focus is on guiding and the skills of guiding, rather than on the skills of therapy.
"You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." This is a line from Mary Oliver’s poem "The Wild Geese" and is a core invitation from the guide to participants to engage all of their senses.
Forest Bathing is not a "hike" and does not set out to conquer nature in any way, but instead invites everyone to engage with the outdoors in a positive way. Events are set up to be as accessible to as many ages, fitness levels, and abilities as possible.
The health benefits for both humans and the forest are collateral, or secondary, impacts of the restoration of healthy relationship between humans and the world. Guides aim to transform the ways in which people relate to forests and other natural spaces so that they feel deeply connected to those places. Beyond this, we also aim to transform the ways in which people relate to themselves, to others, and to the present moment in such a way that they feel deeply connected. Once such connections are generated, we believe that they act as gateways to pro-social and pro-environmental behavioral changes at a societal level. In this way, we understand the main purpose of Forest Therapy as being a vehicle for accelerating cultural change in the interest of community, reciprocity, and love. -Amos Clifford, founder of ANFT